As fans of the Chicago White Sox, we’re all growing weary of the usual rhetoric. “I like what we have”…”if a few guys can turn it around, we’ll kick some butts”…”No need to panic”…”it’s a long season, there’s still plenty of time”…”If we play to our potential, we’ll be fine”…

ALL of which is true, BUT…you get tired of reading it, and hearing it, then noticing that it is now mid-July and we’re still 4 games under .500 looking up at 2 teams in the standings, with another a game behind us. I take no consolation in the fact that “at least we’re not Kansas City, or the Cubs”…still true as that may be, it doesn’t dull the pain of being mediocre and having that awful feeling of disappointment wash over you as you patiently wait for the effort switch to flip on. I’m not counting on that magical winning streaks of 2010, I’d settle for good, consistent baseball, and let the chips fall where they may in this Central Division race. But, that’s been the all-too-familiar problem with this club…literally plagued by inconsistency. Plenty of talent, just not enough to put it all together for an extended period of time.

I’ve always been in the “it’s the players on the field that decide the games” camp, and I likely always will be of that mindset. It just makes too much sense that the production, and execution MUST come from those who are ultra-talented competitors that at the end of the day, MUST find a way to get the “W” on the field. The margin for error is so slim ( a successful pitch here, a fair/foul ball there, a fortunate hop that goes your way and not against you), and these are the things that make up success vs. also-rans. I’ll probably never flat-out blame the Manager solely (whoever it is, whichever the team), as it just seems so ignorant to do so. He CAN put you as a player (as a team) in a position to succeed or fail, but he cannot be blamed for the actual execution (or failure to execute), the actual production (numbers, or lack thereof)…it’s just not physically possible. True enough, at the end of the day, it’s about the record. Having enough wins to qualify for postseason is all that matters when judging a Manager, as well it should. But to suggest that someone else could make a different result with the exact same roster is ludicrous to even suggest. I for one, cannot possibly understand how anyone could predict something that cannot be proven, so why bother to speculate in such a realm?

Long story short (too late again, I know), it all comes down to that age-old practice of: Putting up, or shutting up. We need more wins than we got in the first half, and we need them by whatever means necessary. They don’t need to be pretty, they don’t need to be sexy…they just need to be counted, and when all is said and done after 162 games THIS season, we need one more than the other guys attempting to get to the same goal…the top of the Division. I still maintain this team has all it needs to achieve that goal, but in that lockeroom, in that dugout, and (most importantly) on that field is where they need to figure out a way to put it all together. Winning baseball, easier said than done. Figure that out and you won’t have to talk at all, the play will be doing all of the talking that is necessary, and you’d be surprised how many fans will show up to witness and how quickly the painful memories of failed seasons past (and present) will be erased. I’m looking forward to seeing it, I just hope that I see it this season.

Here’s an interesting stat. As bad as Randy Williams was as our “left-handed specialist” out of the White Sox bullpen last season…at no point during his 27 appearances before KW mercifully pulled his plug, did he give up more than 1 ER in back-to-back appearances. This season’s edition of LH “relief”, Will Ohman? Not so lucky. I won’t even post his stats, they are incredibly horrible, and I am afraid that I may become unnecessarily negative for actually typing those balloon-like, and freakishly-high numbers…so I won’t. Let’s just hope that it will get better before it get’s any worse, or actually costs us a game.

It’s a beautiful thing, not knowing exactly what to expect, and then getting the absolute most unexpected outcome. Did I think that the White Sox would start 2-0? Maybe. But what I was more than anything was anxious, from not knowing exactly who would show up. The team that looked great (on paper) and poor under the Cactus League sun. I was hopeful for a decent showing, a tough win followed by maybe a letdown after…but I certainly wouldn’t have predicted what I have witnessed, which has basically been a bunch of gorillas with bats in their hands, absolutely pummelling Indians pitching from the word “go”.

After the Sox erupted for that 8-spot in the Opening Day game, I have to admit, I was literally giggling…aloud. I knew it would eventually end, this offensive onslaught, but I was enjoying it nontheless with each additional base knock, and the parade of runners crossing home plate. (Note: somebody better spell Jeff Cox at 3rd if this is going to keep up, or he’ll soon need the same surgery Peavy had to re-attach his lat with all of the windmill action the poor guy has been forced to employ so far in this young season…)

Let’s enjoy it while it lasts folks, because you know it won’t….it can’t….can it? Maybe a few games longer? Pretty please? Regardless of tomorrow’s outcome in the last game of the Opening series in Cleveland, these guys did what most people thought they couldn’t do (based on recent history, and cursed with a manager that can never seem to get the troops prepared for battle in April)…they came to play early.